


The Beating Heart

by AppleSoda



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Pining, Politics, i love thinking about their work ethics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28725135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleSoda/pseuds/AppleSoda
Relationships: Leonie Pinelli/Claude von Riegan
Kudos: 6





	The Beating Heart

“Excuse me, moving some supplies through!” Called the girl with the shock of orange-red hair. She’d tied a cardigan to her skirts, just in case it would get chilly. It was quick-thinking that Claude Von Riegan hadn’t seen much in the Golden Deer, at least not upon the nobles trying to get in a good word with his House.

As it turned out, Leonie Pinelli of Sauin village wasn’t just always on her feet, but quick-thinking, too.She was striking in a way that most weren’t.She ate with her hands and laughed easily, particularly at the jokes of Jeralt, the former Captain of the Knights of Seiros. When Claude rose at dawn, he found her sneaking out to the stables, inspecting mounts or doing a few errands in exchange for riding lessons.

Outside of class, Leonie was almost always in motion. Claude noticed so early on, as she wound her way through the Golden Deer House’s errand list without a single complaint. Of the Three Academy Houses, his was the one most unafraid to take on errands— well, save one persnickety pink-haired deputy. But Hilda was helpful in her own ways, whether she admitted to it or not. She and Marianne and Lysithea were three noblewomen, but each couldn’t really be described as typical nobles by any definition. The same was true, of course, for their common-born classmates. Nobody in the Deers were typical, but he’d liked it that way. The Officer’s Academy’s students were raised to lead armies or houses, or to marry well into other upper-echelon social circles of Fódlan. She was there to get her work done, and accomplish it at a lively pace, at that.

The boy that lead their house was whip-smart, she’d noticed. He was thinking constantly, of poring over the books littered across his bed when she’d run errands that passed his room. Claude Von Riegan was neither distantly sad like the Lions’ Prince nor reserved and waiting for something like the Imperial Princess of the Black Eagles. Claude was open to talk, and yet not open at all. He toyed with the arrows he shot right before they lodged into the arms and chest of the enemy. There was a deadliness to him that could match the best of the Prince and Imperial Princess, and she liked that. Maybe more than she’d thought.

All this Leonie noticed, but kept to herself. Any good hunter’s kin would, given the instincts she’d inherited. But she’d no reason to go about spreading rumors, after all. She was raised —and mentored— better than that. In time, though, she began to learn bits and pieces of him.

As their talks veered from the bounty of the monastery grounds to gods — or their absence — from the land, Leonie decided she’d liked that frankness. Stuffy House heads aside, he’d suited the Alliance just fine, if everyone else had anything to say about it.

“How do you handle any of this?” She’d asked. The contents of theirbooks were a jumble as the code of cavaliers rattled through her mind. Horsemanship, she could manage. But laws, standards and the history of knights were something she’d needed to work at more than the average noble.

“Strategizing,” answered Claude. “You need some help on that assignment?” He picked up the foolscap on his own desk, walking over to her seat with a quick smile at other students along the way. “I figure which assignments Professor Byleth is most likely to test us on, and start notes from there. She’s got her tells, like anyone else.” It was obvious, for example, that when fishing metaphors littered questions, that their professor hadn’t taken any old questions from Hanneman or Manuela.

“You make it all sound like a game,” Leonie glanced over at the paper, then started to re-order her own notes. “Another strategy?” It was a practical approach, to think about what he’d had in mind. As he’d encouraged Ignatz Victor to focus on speeding through archery lessons and Hilda Goneril, of all people, to try strength training, Leonie wondered if they were game pieces to be moved on a far larger map.

War games had been a part of them, from fighting students to taking on bandits in life-and-death missions on behalf of the church. Jeralt and Professor Byleth hadn’t thought much of it, but she’d hesitated. The question was, did Claude?

“Well, you know, things stop being games eventually,” Claude shrugged. “But whatever works, right? We win, and that’s that.”

Her dismissive shrug lingered, and he couldn’t figure out quite why it annoyed him for the rest of the day, even as she thanked him and they went our separate ways.

The next time Leonie had saw him, she simply said “don’t worry about it”, quick-as-you-please, and asked if he’d wanted an extra apple she’d gotten from dining hall duty. The apple was sweet to the taste, and yet it didn’t linger for too long.


End file.
